This time, last year I packed up my 2.9 year old and anything we could fit into our car- and we moved home to Melbourne.

I’d secured a job in Melbourne, organised day care for Oliver and that was about it. When I originally planned to move, we had no idea when James would be joining us. Fortunately he secured a posting this way to begin in February 2015.

We had a loose plan. Get a sublet, stay there until Defence Housing organised our home, and pick up where we left off six years ago in good ol’ Melbourne.

Of course, it didn’t quite go that way.

We managed to get a one bedroom sublet in Elwood, tick.

But it didn’t take long to realise this place was filled with mould. Oliver and I shared a bed, which was probably sounds worse than it was. And then the heater broke. In the middle of winter. Oh and I came home one day to see our lil’ unit was up for lease.

Boy, was that an experience. Not quite the restaurant evening and beached filled days I’d planned of. But hey, we had a place to call home for our first few months in Melbourne.

And the girl who sublet it to us was amazing. She even offered to stay with her boyfriend if we hadn’t found a place to live by the time we got back.

Luckily, our last week in the place and we we’re approved to find our own place by Defence (yay Defence). We decided to stay Bayside but move a little further out as James would be working past Hastings.

We decided to move to Chelsea. We got the first house we applied for and within a few weeks we were all settled into our new home, and Oliver moved into his new daycare and thus began the public transport phase of my life.

James was still living in Canberra at this point.

Oliver and I would leave our house in Chelsea at 7AM, 5 days a week. I’d drop him at daycare, run to the train, hope the train would come, and arrive at work anytime between 8AM and 9AM (thanks Metro)! At 4:30PM on the dot every day I would dash from work and make it to daycare by 6PM.

Get home, arse on couch and eat. Phew, made it.

The first six months flew by, but they were not without their memorable moments. Most of which being Oliver’s tantrums- boy did he have a lot of feelings over this period.

We started him on speech therapy, and worked with his daycare to try and work out why he was so angry.

It turns out, he really missed his Dad. He missed everything about Canberra, the 8:30 starts, the 4:30 pickups, dinner at the table, his Dad.

And boy, was it great to have friends and family around. My mother managed to toilet train him in 24 hours, and the relationship he has with my Dad, his Grumpy, is amazing. He loves it when his Babcia comes to visit and I think his favourite people in the world are James’ younger half siblings. Not to mention his new cousin, boy is he smitten.

But there is no one quite like your Dad.

A lot of me feels like we only really moved back to Melbourne in Feb this year, when James got to join us.

Of course, after 12 months apart it was not all smooth sailing (mind the pun). It was a huge adjustment for him as Ollie had grown so much. And for me. I did things MY WAY!

By March this year we decided we had to move forward in a big way to get Oliver back to the happy kid he deserved to be, so I went part time. It was the best decision I have made since deciding to move to Melbourne. I am so blessed to be in a workplace that facilitates working Mums.

And just over three months later, Oliver is the happiest kid you will ever meet.

We all are. And we are even expanding our little family in December this year. I work in a non-profit organisation running their social media and website. James gets to teach new Trainees. And Oliver has both his parents, and the rest of his family whom he adores each.and.everyone one.

Boy, it has been one hell of a ride over the last 12 months. We have gone from Pillar to Post, but post is where we are supposed to be.

So happy 12 months anniversary to Melbourne. I know this is the first of many.